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Thread: AF-5600 & AF-Pilot no flight director, no EFIS steering

  1. #1

    AF-5600 & AF-Pilot no flight director, no EFIS steering

    Having a problem where EFIS mode of the autopilot is not behaving as expected. The AF-Pilot works in "standalone" mode, i.e. it will follow a track and do climbs and descents when commanded. The AP will also enter EFIS mode after pressing the EFIS button, and the display says "EXT LS VS". To me this implies that the AP is receiving valid ARINC data. However, the autopilot seems to only ever command zero bank and zero pitch in this mode. Changing the heading bug has no effect, even though the EFIS is set to HDG for lateral control. Same with altitude bug.

    Here are some items I've noticed that seem suspicious. Are they related? The flight director is displayed, but it always follows the airplane wings, regardless of how the AP is configured in the EFIS. I would expect that the FD would move around even when the AP is completely disconnected. Is that incorrect? The AP mode display at the top center of the EFIS display also has a red X over it. The FD also seems to have a red outline, which does not exactly match the pictures in the User Manual. Is that indicative of a problem?

    The RS-232 input to the AP is not connected from the EFIS, rather it is connected to the output of the 430W. Is the RS-232 input required to be connected to the EFIS in order for GPS steering to work? The installation documents imply that it should work in this configuration.

    Thanks for any information you can provide

  2. #2
    Advanced Flight Systems Shawn McGinnis's Avatar
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    Sep 2012
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    Canby, OR
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    For all screen in the panel

    Verify your FMA reflects L:HDG V:ALT
    Press AP -> HDG (Green), ALT (Green), NAV (Blue), VNAV (Blue)
    Press BACK to exit

    Ensure your bugs are enabled:
    Press SET -> EFIS -> HDG BUG (Green), ALT BUG (Green), IAS BUG (Green)
    Press BACK to exit

    Ensure you don't have a serial port configured for AF-PILOT and Autopilot Type is TRUTRK:
    Press SET -> Hold CAL -> Admin Settings -> Serial Port #0 to #4 NOT 80012 AF-PILOT
    Press BACK -> BACK to exit

    Finally use the bottom corner of the checklist page to see the AP_ROLL and AP_VSPD value being sent to the autopilot.
    Press CHECK
    Shawn McGinnis

    Advanced Flight Systems
    support@advanced-flight-systems.com

  3. #3
    Aha! On EFIS1 I noticed that AP_ROLL and AP_VSPD was not listed, instead there was a message to the effect that it wasn't the "master" of the AP. On EFIS2 (which does not have the ARINC connected to it), it did list AP_ROLL and AP_VSPD. Looking in the Admin settings, I noticed that the IP addresses of the two screens was backwards of how the manual specifies; EFIS2 was 175 and EFIS1 was 176. After swapping those, I no longer have a red X over the AP mode display, nor a red outline to the FD, and the FD moves around in response to the heading bug.

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